Things Go Afoul Late for Clippers on the Road Again

SACRAMENTO — Clipper Coach Chris Ford’s body language said it all.

With his arms folded tightly over his chest and a sour look on his face, Ford watched his team go down hard on the road once again Tuesday night.

This time it was the Sacramento Kings who held off a late rally by the Clippers and walked away with an 104-98 victory before a capacity crowd of 17,317 at Arco Arena.

After trailing by 20 points late in the third quarter, the Clippers found themselves down by only two points following a three-point basket by Lamar Odom with 32 seconds remaining. But instead of trying to make a defensive stop and possibly win the game with an another three-point basket, Eric Piatkowski intentionally fouled the Kings’ Jason Williams, who made two free throws with 30.8 seconds left.

“I didn’t know how much we were down, I thought we were down by four,” said Piatkowski. “It was a stupid play. It’s upsetting because I’m one of the veterans on the team.”

Following Williams’ free throws, Maurice Taylor--who carried the team with his perimeter shooting much of the game--missed a jumper in the final seconds.

“We played good enough to stay in the game and still lose the game down the stretch,” said Taylor, who scored a team-high 22 points. “It’s kind of frustrating because you would think by now we could get over the hump.”

Center Michael Olowokandi had a strong game with 14 points and 15 rebounds, and Odom had 19 points and 14 rebounds but those efforts still weren’t enough for the Clippers, who have lost 10 of their last 11 games.

Chris Webber led Sacramento, which extended its winning streak to six games, with 30 points. Nick Anderson had 19 points and Vlade Divac scored all 10 of his points in second half to go along with 11 rebounds.

“We played pretty well in the first half, but then we tried our crazy game with a lot of crazy passes and they were able to score a lot of points,” said Divac in explaining how the Kings almost lost their big lead.

It was the sixth consecutive loss overall and eighth in a row on the road for the Clippers, who had 20 turnovers.

After suffering a six-point loss to San Antonio Monday night at Staples Center, the Clippers spotted the Kings a 10-point lead by missing their first seven shots and committing three turnovers.

The Kings, who have scored more than 100 points in 27 of 36 games this season, led 57-47 at halftime and stretched their lead to 83-63 with three minutes left in the third quarter.

The fourth quarter belonged to the Clippers, who finally began to make their shots in transition. With backup point guard Eric Murdock running the offense, the Clippers clawed back from a 15-point deficit at the start of the quarter and trailed by only two in the final minute.

Murdock, who scored eight of his 11 points in the final quarter, was effective pushing the ball up the floor and when Odom connected for his first three-point basket, the Clippers had a chance to steal a win.

“Eric played some good aggressive defense first of all and he got us involved with penetration,” said Ford of Murdock, who also had five steals and two assists in 20 minutes. “He was able to get in the paint off the dribble and cause all kinds of problems for them.”

But as they did in losses in their previous four games, the Clippers could not make the plays--or made the wrong ones--at the end to pull out a win.

“I thought it was a game again when we got down by two,” Odom said. “I don’t know why we fouled but I guess everyone wasn’t aware of the clock situation.”